State of the Re:Union: Missouri's Ozarks

09/29/12 4:00PM

The Ozarks have long been an isolated place—steep mountains break up the landscape into hills and hollows, making each little town its own microcosm. Outsiders might know little beyond the stereotypical hillbillies, generations of poverty, and an infamous meth problem, one of the worst in the country. But people in the Ozarks are pushing for ways to build community with few resources, to hold on to what is authentic about their identity while bucking stereotypes imposed on them by the outside world.

In this hour of State of the Re:Union we meet fathers parenting from prison, famous fiddlers passing on their craft, and people re-imagining the iconic Ozarks one-room schoolhouse, finding pockets of innovation in a place that much of America seems to have forgotten.